How the pandemic can help our natural environment

115 animal and plant species have become extinct in Ireland since people arrived here

More time to explore the outdoors during the pandemic has led to a keener public awareness of nature and the environment. Picture: iStock

Will we soon hear the skylark's song and the curlew's call in moorlands, where such sounds have been absent for years? Most people would stop short of supporting calls for the return of wolves, as some Greens suggested, to control the rampant deer population. And brown bears are unlikely to return to the Irish landscape.

Something has to be changing for the better, nevertheless, when nature lovers are happy with a government. Such people are usually negative because of the dire performances of previous governments.

So we had to look a second time at a statement from the Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT): It welcomed announcements in the budget that will address our biodiversity crisis.

There are two likely reasons for this official change of heart. An obvious one is the Green Party's influence in the coalition. But it could also be because of keener public awareness of nature and the environment: People have more time to explore the outdoors during the pandemic.

A decision to more than double funding for the National Parks and Wildlife Service, from €13m to €29m, offers hope. This service, however, had suffered savage cuts and is coming from a low funding base. Regular national park users will be well aware of the visible effects of lack of maintenance resulting from a resources shortage.

There are also plans for more nature-friendly and organic farming, better forestry practices, and peatland restoration, which will all contribute to healthier water and landscapes for people and nature.

The IWT's Pádraic Fogarty says it's vital that this extra money is spent on actual conservation measures and not diverted to tourism infrastructure in national parks and nature reserves, which we have seen happen before. An Ireland filled with nature again will require ambition, but presents enormous opportunities, he says.

"We saw a focus on biodiversity in this year's budget, which we have never seen before," Mr Fogarty says. "This can only help in bringing an end to the relentless downwards trajectory which we have witnessed in biodiversity in Ireland. We expect this will be the start of a longer-term recovery."

Environmentalists would also like to see the ending of overfishing, the creation of marine protected areas, and an agri-food strategy fit to deal with the climate and nature crises.

These range from the brown bear, which died out almost 9,000 years ago, to the corn bunting, a little bird that ceased breeding here less than 30 years ago. Lynx and wildcat disappeared from here thousands of years ago.